I’ll be working straight through Christmas. We have a filing on Dec. 26.

Merry Christmas you guys! I will be at home, working on increasing the girth of my ass and enjoying the company of my sister and her son, who is only 4 days younger than The Captain. I’m glad you didn’t miss the finale. Too bad I didn’t watch EVERY episode; it would have given me a chance for some eye rolling from Hubby.

Huh, huh-huh, you said ‘pole’…

Thank God I am not addicted to Survivor. Yet, that is — I feel it sucking me in a little more every season.

This weekend, my husband and I (somewhere in limbo between “married” and “separated” and “kind of still together”) are going to drive to Syracuse (N.Y.) to spend Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and the day after with my family, then driving to Missouri to spend up till New Year’s with his family, then driving back to Georgia to teach our bodies how to walk again. Stops at the giant Superman in Metropolis, Illinois, and at the Jack Daniel’s distillery in Lynchburg, Tennessee, are imminent. Also, we will probably spend plenty of time appreciating the fact that my iPod’s battery is practically immortal.

Happy Christmahanukwanzakah!

These sorts of entries should always have SPOILER ALERT at the top, just in case other people may not have seen the episode yet. :(

Work gives us the week of xmas off with pay so I will be goofing off with my kids. My kids don’t really celebrate xmas as a ‘the birth of Christ’ thing but more as a ‘No school for two weeks and bunch of new toys’ thing. As a pagen I am going to hell anyway but after living in Lubbock Texas for three years how bad could it really be? Happy Holidays and have a safe trip (don’t get lost).

Ah, out to the BF’s parents house in Port Ludlow for Friday, Saturday and part of Sunday for Christmas with his family. Then back to Seattle where I will head up to Grandma’s house to enjoy Christmas Eve with 30 or so of my closest relatives (Ack!) and then the next morning over to my parents alone (BF has to work on Christmas, boo!! I guess TV news just keeps on happening…) Brunch there consists of yummy yummy eggs benedict and opening more presents with the rest that come over. Then usually a butter-egg overload induced nap, and back over to Grandma’s for dinner. Chaos.

Alrighty, you asked…

First of all, know that I am in Auckland, New Zealand where it is Summer which I’m sure is a very odd concept for all you folks in the Northern Hemisphere, but this is how we roll and I don’t know it any other way.

My sister had a baby with her Norwegian boyfriend a few weeks ago so her in-laws are over for Christmas and are treating us to traditional Norwegian fare on Christmas Eve. On Christmas day we will converge on Mum and Dad’s (and by we I mean three of my sisters, their partners, their combined six children, Norwegian in-laws, Norwegian in-laws’ friends, Norwegian cousin, and any other waifs and strays we might pick up along the way). That’s around twenty people (excluding the pending waifs and strays). At my parents house we will exchange gifts, eat traditional Christmas treats, and then get into a massive fight over who should be doing dishes. Someone will drive off in a huff, and someone else will be sent to calm them down and retrieve them.

Then on Boxing Day my sister will be arriving at 5.45am from London – she will be ferried back to my parents’ place for the Champagne Christmas breakfast that we usually have on Christmas Day but are holding off for her arrival. I will miss the Boxing Day festivities as I will be getting on a plane at 6.50am to head to Nelson (top of NZ’s South Island) where I will spend two relaxing weeks with my boyfriend and his family. Er… his entire extended family who are descending on Nelson to celebrate his sister’s engagement party (oh, she’s popping over from Japan where she lives with her fiance) on the 28th Dec, his brother’s 30th on the 30th Dec, and then there’s New Year’s Eve celebrations. Did I say relaxing? I meant incredibly stressful as I will be spending the entire time smiling politely and trying to remember which kids belong to which aunty and who is married to who, and worst of all – what all there names are.

I suppose I could’ve written all this on my own blog, but hey – yours is more fun.

And you asked.

Have a wonderful and safe festive season, and thanks for another year of great reading!

Ok, sorry, me again – I have to do this. I typed “there” but I meant “their.

That’s all.

OOH! I loved Nelson! All Art Deco and such. Have fun Jane!

Have a great weekend/holiday – I’m so glad you survived the storm, BTW (belated as that is, I just read all those posts and it sounded crazy and scary). We’re going to my mom’s Xmas eve for the whole extended family thing, and then my in-laws are coming over our house on Xmas day, the better to keep the boy-o busy with his own toys. At their house he runs around in crazed, toyless boredom and breaks all the delicate beaded lamps and stuff. Plus that way we don’t have to drive an hour + away on the Big Day, we get to luxuriate in our own home, cooking frantically and stepping on scattered Legos.

My mom and brother are coming into town to visit me and my husband. I also am petsitting peoples’ cats and dogs over the weekend, because holidays are good money making times for petsitters! Good times. I think eggnog and rum may also be in our future!

Headed home to Wisconsin, where perhaps it might actually FEEL LIKE CHRISTMAS (as opposed to life in Northern California). I think the brother and sister are only going to be there for 48 and 72 hours, respectively, so I foresee lots of quality time sitting on the couch in the living room with my parents. All of us reading magazines and not speaking. Good times!

Pleaseohpleaseohplease, everyone on the internet, update over the next week so I have something to do with myself! Oh yes, and Happy Holidays to everyone.

I will continue to mooch off my parents. This Friday and Saturday we are going to various aunt’s for supper. Same side of the family though, there’s no reason for this proliferation of parties except as an excuse to eat more cheeseball. Christmas Day will be spent at Gramma’s house of course. Also eating more cheeseball, and caramel popcorn. MMMM. Can someone roll me home?

I’m happily staying put in Bellingham, with just my husband and our 2-year-old son. Heaven. No flying back to the Midwest to visit family (I do miss everyone — just not enough to brave the airports and the crowds and the cold and…).

On Christmas day, I suspect we’ll open gifts, drink mimosas, have a big fat breakfast, play with all our new toys (which will mean watching DVDs and flipping through new books), put the boy down for a nap, nap ourselves, have a big fat ham dinner (that my husband will cook — also heavenly!), and then play with our new toys some more. The end.

I can’t wait.

Happy holidays to you, JB, and Riley!

Driving to Florida on Friday night after work. Or maybe hightailing it to Eugene to hide at my sister’s house. Lord, you two should really get together – you’d have a blast. I joked that I would be hopping on a plane this weekend, and she thought I was serious. Maybe I am. It depends on how crazy the rest of the family drives me!

Have a good one. :)

Have a great holiday! Hope the TP is better at JB’s brother’s place. ;)

I’m flying home to MA tonight to see my family. I’m keeping my fingers crossed for snow… I actually miss east coast winters. :)

Having a baby, maybe? I dunno. I guess if I get bored, that will be the plan. If not, then I guess I’ll just continue maniacally preparing for the Peanut’s arrival while attending to the Doodle’s wishes, as well as those of The Husband, who I swear is now 800 years old, not 38. (Why does he keep getting sick and aquiring ailments? Why can’t he let me be the one who needs pampering? I’m 9 friggin’ months’ pregnant here! Ahem.) Hope y’all enjoy electricity and shelter for the holidays. Keep safe and well!

I’m going to Vermont to see my boyfriend’s crazy ass family. I’ve been once before, and let me just say that I’m terrified. Sweating bullets. his mom is so crazy (and I realize that everyone’s mom is crazy, my own included, but his mom is EXTRA ka-ray-zee) that the last time we were up there for Christmas 2003, she made me sleep on the floor in his 9-year-old brother’s room. Because that was better than us, God forbid, sleeping on separate couches in the living room. Keep in mind that we were living together for a year at the time. I’m totally fine if she’s not going to make us up a bed with silk sheets, pop open a bottle of champagne, and light candles around the room, but for the love of God… is sleeping in the same room as his pre-adolescent brother really better than letting MY LIVE-IN BOYFRIEND see me in my jammies?

Sorry, he reads my blog so I can’t vent this there. Guess I really needed to get that out. Whew. I sort of feel better now. Happy holidays!

I work at a frame shop/gallery, so I’ll be working until the last minute for all the crazy holiday Christmas rush orders coming in. And my head might explode. If not, and if the blizzard in Wyoming/Colorado ends, then Sunday the fiance and I are flying back to the midwest for Christmas and New Year’s festivities with each of our families. We take turns. Happy holidays to your family!

Happy holidays! We’re flying to Michigan on Friday to spend Christmas with my family. Jojo and his 17 month old cousin are going to tear UP grandma’s house. It’s going to be great.

We’re celebrating Christmas late this year: my brother got married this past year and this is his first year of dividing up Christmas, so her parents get them for actual Christmas and we get them a few days later. So while all of you are experiencing post-Christmas letdown, I will still be looking forward to all those nummy presents.

Heading down to San Diego with my mutt tonight to spend time with family for Christmas, and then off to Park City, Utah, to meet up with friends and do some snowboarding and bring in the New Year. Should be fun! :o) Happy Holidays to you!!!

Happy Holidays, Sundry!

Oh, we’ll be so close! We’ll be about 45 minutes up I-5 hanging out with my parents and uncle. And it will be pretty nice, actually. We may travel farther down I-5 (weather permitting) to “enjoy” time with some other family. Have a good time in Eugene; I have some fond memories of my time there. There’s a great Mexican place on campus that serves the best breakfast. Have a great trip, and happy holidays.

Merry Christmas! This weekend I’m going to a couple of gigs (one Nate’s, one our friends) and then having a big dinner on the day before Christmas Eve, then flying to Queenstown then onto Alexandra (in the South Island of New Zealand) to stay with Nate’s family…I’m coming back on the 7th Jan, then on the 12th Jan I leave for the USA. Woo!

Last weekend I went to the Aveda place, also known as the place where I spend too damn much money, and my daughter gave me my christmas card, which I opened when the beautician took her back to cut her hair. It said, “Boy or girl, we cannot say, but a new baby is on the way”.
Due August 2007. (Like I can wait that long, it will be the longest pregnancy in history.)
So I go screaming into the room where the girl is washing her hair, and start screaming “you’re pregnant, you’re pregnant?”, and the girl is freaking out because who the hell is this lady? Screaming you are pregnant? And the girl was pregnant too, and now panicking, because again, who is this lady? And why is she jumping up and down and yelling, and someone come save me from her! And why is she yelling at me, oh wait, she’s yelling at this poor girl, does she know her? Ok I guess she does.
It was quite the scene.
Then that night, we, all the family, went to see my little 3 year old grandaughter in her first dance recital, and she owned the stage I tell you, owned it. Like she’d been there forever, and performed perfectly. She’s been telling us she was having a new baby, and we didn’t believe her. Stupid us.
This weekend, saturday is our xmas, the whole family is coming including my son from NV, it’s a surprise, shhh!
I wanted Ozzie to win too, he was like a ninja during the last challenges especially.

Reality TV…ugh… Give me Animal Planet any day. Except for anything about deep-sea creatures. Those things is NAS-TEA.

I do wish I owned a DVR so that I could have gotten the Colbert-Decemberists Green Screen Challenge. I mean, Peter Frampton AND Henry Kissinger?! That’s like, every major youth-idol ever, right?

Uh, anyway, I was going to go home until a blizzard denied me. I will be going back on Saturday, just in time for Christmas Rush. Huzzah!

my sisters have flown over from Seattle to visit with me in Glasgow, and now the three of us are flying down to London tomorrow for the Christmas weekend.

This year I will be spending a ten day holiday vacation with my boyfriend of 2 1/2 months. We’ll be going to his Aunt’s house on Christmas Eve, his parents’ house on Christmas Day, and my sister’s house on the day after Christmas (which is when she’s celebrating this year). The rest of the time will be spent together, hanging out and wtaching lots of DVDs, eating lots of cookies and candy and hopefully not getting completely sick of each other after ten days together. I’m looking forward to it!

We’re (BF and I) heading to visit his family for the holidays in West Virginia. And while his mom is rather normal, as is his sister, the rest of his family…well, they’re kind of wacko. They all live near each other. Next door, or on the same street. ALL of them, with grandma as the center. They can’t for the life of them understand why BF moved away. Why not live near them? Near his mother? What is wrong with him? My BF calls the whole area “the compound”.

It’s guaranteed to be entertaining. Will his twice-divorced cousin be pregnant again by her ex-con/ex-husband? Will his one aunt go nuts and start yelling that her “head hurts and who are ALL these people”? Will his grandmother ask me yet again when I am going to get pregnant? Um, need to be married first. At least thats how I am. (I’m 33, he’s 36 and the oldest grandchild by a long shot – it’s mind boggling to her that we haven’t) And its also guaranteed that his grandmother will make some random statements that are sooooo politically incorrect that they will have me stuffing my face to keep from laughing.

But. It’s his family turn this year. And after last year where his mother didn’t speak to him for two months when he didn’t come home for the holidays, we need to go. Did I mention its an 8 hour drive?

However, it will be nice to spend time together away from work. And we get to be incredibly lazy for four days, so you can’t beat that.

Merry Christmas to you, JB and Riley!! I hope Santa brings you lots of goodies. (and comcast)

and it must be noted that while Ozzy was an incredible man / fish / monkey, Yul had the most yummy lickable abs. And he was smart too. What a rarity. I’ll miss seeing him every week!

Hubby and I are flying tomorrow to the Czech Republic, so I can reconnect with my roots over the holidays. I can’t wait.

Hubby and I are flying tomorrow to the Czech Republic, so I can reconnect with my roots over the holidays. I can’t wait.

Happy Holidays to your family, Sundry.

Merry Christmas and safe travel to you and yours!

We’re travelling to my parents’ house for the holidays (well, technically for Saturday through Tuesday) where we’ll spend large amount of times playing really geeky board games (settlers of catan – you should so try it) and drinking copious amounts of wine. I’m mostly excited because my brother and his wife will be there and we haven’t seen them since July. It should be a ton of fun and I’m really looking forward to it.

There will be 15 at our house for Christmas Eve, for a traditional Italian, seafood-laden, 9-course dinner. Then, there will be 17 at my uncle’s house for a traditional Italian Christmas dinner. Lots of lasagna, lamb, etc. Then, the day after that, 10 of us are driving from Toronto to North Carolina (14 hours!) for a family wedding on the 28th, and we’re staying over New Year’s Eve, for a James Bond themed black-tie New Year’s Eve gala. Fun! (Hopefully!)

Friday=my niece’s 1st birthday party. Saturday=Christmas with my husband’s side (which we are hosting) and hopefully afterwards a drive around to look at Christmas lights. Sunday=Christmas with my side (which we are hosting), then my boys will go to their dad’s side, then we’ll let the kids open one gift from us before putting out cocoa and cookies for Santa and reindeer food. Monday= we’ll take my stepkids to their mother’s house and then chill at home for a while before going the grandparents’ house for dinner.

Bonus! I will have the entire week after Christmas off of work to spend with my kiddos!

I finally have a few days off (agreed to a 6-day work week due to the holidays this week… note to self: pretend not to hear manager when she suggestes such a thing) so things will go much smoother than I’d anticipated. Christmas Eve is being spent with my boyfriend and his mom, then Christmas Day he and I are driving up to my parents’ to see my crew. Assuming that one of my nieves brings her boyfriend, our grand total this year will be 19 people. In one house. For several hours. Yikes! My parents either love us all greatly or are very stupid.

Enjoy the holiday season and watch out for weird weather!

Word, Sundry–take the GPS and extra food and blankets and JB’s manly survival sense and drive safely! I’m leaving work early today and flying from 70 degree, monsoon-drenched New Orleans to visit with the fam in Buffalo. I’m actually hoping for witch-teat cold and snow–it doesn’t feel like Christmas without having to wear wool socks to bed and shoveling the driveway for 3 hours. Hmm…hold up…

Oh yeah, I’m assuming you’ve already seen it, but your pole humor reminded me of it and it is just so damn funny (and festive! and inappropriate!): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dmVU08zVpA

Merry merries!!

Thursday = last day of work for 11 paid days off! Company is closed for the week! Thank the maker!
Thursday night = fun holiday mixer at elegant inn with free food and drink. Excellent.

Friday = head up to Burlington for some last minute shopping and also meet up with my parents and my brother & his wife (sil #1) for Christmas round 1.

Saturday = back home, start sister-in-law #2’s birthday cake and dinner. 2 neighborhood parties to attend.

Sunday = SIL #3 and husband and annoying rat dogs arrive in morning. Make SIL #2’s birthday cake. SIL #2 and annoying MIL arrive at some point. Neighborhood party, birthday dinner for SIL #2, wait for Santa. Assemble gifts as needed.

Monday = Big waffle breakfast, coffee, oj, bacon. Then presents presents presents. Then my parents come for dinner, Christmas round 2. SIL #2 leaves after dinner.

Tuesday = I can breathe a sigh of relief as SIL #3 and MIL leave.

All in all, I am looking forward to this weekend, although who knows what my MIL will pull. She gets especially freaky over the holidays.

Staying home & enjoying my baby’s first Christmas (which loosely translates into his parents taking pictures of a day that he doesn’t know is different other than he has lots of shiny paper to stare at!). And then my sis is coming and we’ll shop the sales. Yay!

Ooops! I also meant to say Merry Christmas! Have a great trip!

Heh. I’ll be packing. I move from NJ to GA on the 29th. Gooooooooood times. Except not. Have a great holiday, Sundry!

PS: Ozzie looked EXACTLY like Joey Lawrence during the “Blossom” years at the reunion. Whoa!

GAH! i totally missed the finale of survivor. i am soooo mad! i didn’t even record it or anything. so…if anyone has a COPY or anything, could you maybe send it along for xmas?? that’d be super.

We’ll be headed up to Portland to spend Christmas with my in-laws (ack!). So wish me luck. Maybe we’ll pass you headed the other way on I-5!

I am having Christmas Eve dinner with family at Snoqualmie Ridge, Christmas morning with my dad in Sahalee on the Sammamish Plateau, Christmas Day dinner at my own house in Shoreline, then spending New Year’s Eve with friends at a cool rented cabin near Leavenworth. I’m tired already just thinking about it!

Have a great holiday and a safe trip, Sundry!

i am currently in florence, italy and will be back in london next week and will be returning to nyc on new years day. holy run on sentence popeye! thats it for me that, i dont mean to discredit what i am doing over the holiday but those are the logistics. i hope yhour family has lovely week with the family. :) happy holidays!

Omigod, I am having a baby. Tomorrow!
Can we say Merry Christmas to me or what? Talk about a celebration and perfect gift.

Happy Holidays!

Damn, your commenters sure are jetsetters, Sundry! My long weekend will unfurl in a 30-mile radius of my couch, and that’s how I like it. I have tomorrow off – had to use up that last vacation day – and will be picking up my NEW CAR (Merry Christmas to ME, from ME). Then Saturday I will clean my house like a banshee and prepare food for my Christmas Eve open house, which starts Sunday at 6. Christmas morning my brother and I will head to Mom’s, and make her cry because we bought her diamond earrings. Around noon we’ll head to Dad’s, spend a couple hours there, before heading back to Mom’s for rib roast dinner. And Tuesday, thankfully, another day off to play with my new toys and eat leftovers.

Merry Christmas and safe travels!